The Making of Mass Extinctions

The Big Five Mass Extinctions The Sixth Mass Extinction?

Extinction is a normal part of the evolutionary process and most species that have ever existed are not living today. The normal loss of species through time is generally balanced A large number of current ecological threats have
by the rise of new species. Mass extinctions, however, disrupt this balance–representing times when many more species go extinct than are replaced by new ones. moved extinction rates above normal levels and
potentially put numerous species on the path to
Scientists have found evidence of five mass extinction events during Earth’s history. What caused these “Big Five” extinction events? And are we about to enter a sixth mass extinction?
extinction. If left unchecked, some scientists
The graph shows estimated rates of extinction plotted over geologic time. The fossil record reveals that these rates fluctuate around a generally low level, but peak at certain predict that within a few human generations, the
points in Earth’s history, indicating mass extinction events. sixth mass extinction will become inevitable.

Ordovician Devonian Permian Triassic Cretaceous Anthropocene

Cambrian Silurian Carboniferous Jurassic Paleogene Neogene

Quaternary
END ORDOVICIAN EXTINCTION
Environmental Factors
CRETACEOUS EXTINCTION
Environmental Factors
END PERMIAN EXTINCTION
Glacial and interglacial
Supercontinent Environmental Factors
episodes caused sea
moves to South Pole
levels to rise and fall Volcanic activity prior to
Tectonic uplift and
dramatically, moving impact acidified oceans
weathering Asteroid impact
shorelines repeatedly. and increased global
Basalt lava covered vast (Yucatán Peninsula,
Continental erosion changed atmosphere and
areas of land. Huge Mexico)
temperatures. Tectonic Anthropocene Extinction?
ocean chemistry. Massive volcanic uplift and erosion
clouds of sulfur dioxide Environmental Factors
activity in Siberia enriched oceans with nutrients and depleted
Affected Species (80% Extinct) (SO2) and carbon dioxide
them of oxygen. Asteroid impact caused brief
Trilobites, corals, brachiopods, bryozoans, (CO2) caused acid rain, ocean acidification, and
superheating followed by rapid cooling and
echinoderms, graptolites, nautiloids, conodonts LATE DEVONIAN EXTINCTION global warming.
pushed already stressed species over the edge.
TRIASSIC EXTINCTION
Environmental Factors Affected Species (96% Extinct)
Affected Species (76% Extinct)
Amphibians, early reptiles, insects, trilobites, Environmental Factors
Dinosaurs, pterosaurs, mosasaurs, plesiosaurs, Human activity
sea scorpions, corals Many environmental
mammals, ammonites, shell-building species, plants factors linked to past extinctions exist today.
Burning of fossil fuels, farming, and deforestation
Land plants consumed
Atmospheric carbon elevate carbon dioxide (CO2) levels that cause
atmospheric carbon
Rapid growth of dioxide (CO2) levels rose, ocean acidification, global warming, and rising
dioxide (CO2), which Underwater
land plants causing global warming sea levels. Pollutants alter the chemistry of the
caused global cooling. volcanic activity
and ocean acidification. atmosphere, soil, and water; algal blooms deplete
Weathering plant roots released nutrients into the
20 sea, causing algal blooms and oxygen depletion. Affected Species (80% Extinct)
oceans and lakes of oxygen. Habitat loss,
overfishing, and introduction of invasive species
Amphibians, reptiles, bivalves, conodonts, corals,
Affected Species (75% Extinct) disrupt ecosystems and reduce biodiversity.
ammonites, brachiopods
Armored fish, corals

15
(Families Per Million Years)
Extinction Rate

10

443 359 251 200 65

0
Cambrian Ordovician Silurian Devonian Carboniferous Permian Triassic Jurassic Cretaceous Paleogene Neogene Anthropocene

Quaternary
500 450 400 350 300 250 200 150 100 50 0 Future
Image Credits: Globe: Bill Pietsch, A3MG; Ordovician habitat: University of Michigan Museum of Natural History; Land plants: iStock/Thinkstock; Volcanos: Hemera/Thinkstock;
Asteroid impact: iStock/Thinkstock; Smoke stacks: iStock/Thinkstock; Cityscape: iStock/Thinkstock; Devonian, Permian, Triassic, and Cretaceous habitat: John Sibbick Millions of Years Ago © 2015 Howard Hughes Medical Institute. This poster is provided free of charge by HHMI for educational purposes; the poster may not be sold or resold. All other rights reserved.